DImommY

My husband has gotten good at the smile and nod. I come up with these crazy ideas and present them to him and he just smiles and nods and doesn't say a word to discourage me (except maybe, "How much is this project going to cost?". This blog is my attempt to document my frenzy of DIY projects.

I have recently subscribed to Pinterest which has only made my DIY addiction worse (well, that and my oldest went off to kindergarten this year, so I have some time previously spent breaking up fights between two sisters available to me). Anyway, on Pinterest you create a virtual pinboard of ideas of stuff you like, which has been lovely for me because I often see or think of DIY projects but often forget about them and am onto the next. However, with Pinterest the pictures are there forever on your pinboard (at least until whatever blog site you pinned them from takes them down). So, I have these lovely pictures of clean, organized entryways, boot benches, laundry rooms, and bits and pieces of my dream kitchen. Now I can look at these pictures every day. My crazy ideas for these pictures build every day. I look at them and try to think of how I can make that happen in my own house without spending $100 a day at Menards every day for a week (which is what seems to happen with most DIY projects...). For example, here's one of those lovely pictures I pinned on Pinterest of my dream mudroom/entryway:

My house has a very narrow entry from the garage through the laundry room and I will never have my dream entryway in our current house unless major renovations are undertaken, or unless I throw out my washer and dryer, which I have considered on occasion. Here's what I came up with to try to re-create that lovely, organized mudroom/entryway in my garage:

Not too bad, I can totally live with this!!
Bench--made from scrap lumber and painted with $1.00 oops paint from Lowes. Design from ana-white.com
Crates--also made from scrap lumber, design from ana-white.com . They are on casters so they can roll in and out and they hold our former jumbled pile of shoes. I am thinking I might do some kind of aged-looking stain on them to make them look old, but I HATE staining..
Rug--on sale at Lowes for $20. I saw that it matched the teal on the bench perfectly and it looks fun and summery which I will appreciate in the winter.
Shelf--closetmaid track system from Lowes. Can't remember how much all that cost, but it was cheaper than building the shelves out of wood.
Bins--$3.99 each at Menards.
Coat racks -- got them at Hobby Lobby 50% off, $15 each!!

Next you will be hearing of my escapades to renovate my kitchen cabinets, which I will test out by renovating my laundry room cabinets (somehow this all started with my husband's displeasure that we have to put cereal boxes on top of the fridge, so this crazy idea is not my fault..... ;-) )